Collapse
by Dazac
Summary: The Collapse has begun, and with it, and end to all he knows. But an end can also be a beginning. Follow Atrius on a journey that will change all he knows, and all anyone knows. After all, what's the point of a deus ex machina if you're not going to use it?
1. Chapter 1

(Author's note at the bottom)

* * *

The cold, and dark was the most oppressive thing he'd ever experienced as he floated in the abyss. He felt weightless and impossibly heavy all at once. Trying to move or shift felt like an impossible task. It was strange, feeling so isolated like this, since isolation was normally something he sought out. For a brief moment a sudden surge of panic washed over him before rapidly fading away.

 _Odd_ , he thought. Where did that come from? _What is there to be so panicked about? I'm fine after all. I'm..._

 _Where am I?_

"Why ask 'where' when the delicious question is 'when?'"

He spun around, startled, to come face to face with a young woman, one he recognized from- wait. _Since when could I move? Or see?_

"Since just now," the woman explained, drawing his eyes once more, the question evident on his face. Was she reading his thoughts?

Instead of answering the unasked question though, she simply smiled and walked past him, his eyes following her as she approached a large doorway that opened on its own, leading out onto a landing, the sound of water lapping against stone reaching his ears and the glint of stars in the night sky shining down.

"Not stars," she said, "But you should already know that."

He trailed after her, too shocked to hesitate as he came to a stop next to her. He looked up at the sky, with wide eyes, knowing suddenly that it wasn't a sky, but a vast, endless sea that was dotted, not with stars, but lighthouses exactly like the one he stood at. "How?" he muttered, right before reality hit him with what he swore was a physical force and he lurched forward, hands coming to rest against the rough stone of the waist high wall in front of him. His head rang and vision swam as nausea welled up in his gut before it faded, drawing his attention to the warm, wet sensation of liquid running over his lips. His tongue licked across them instinctively and the harsh tang of iron rich blood greeted him.

"Don't worry," the woman said, "It will pass... at least for now."

He felt a swelling of emotions he couldn't describe and nearly panicked again before he latched onto an emotion he did recognize; frustration. "HOW?!" he demanded.

"You already know," she explained before adding, "Well... the basics, anyway. The bare minimum basics."

The physical force hit again, along with the ringing, swimming, nausea, and fresh flow of blood from his nose. As he recovered from the newest bout he choked out, "Multiverse?"

"See?" the reply came with the subtle quality of a genuine smile, "Don't think about it too hard. You'll only get frustrated. Honestly it all comes down to a lot of quantum bullshit. Take me for example. I'm Elizabeth Comstock, Anna Dewitt, and dead all at once."

He frowned and look at her, taking in her appearance. She certainly look like the girl from the game he'd played, but for some reason beyond his understanding she seemed off. "Dead?" he asked.

She gave a nod, "Yes, well...yes and no. Both. I know about what you know of me. Those games you played. In that last bit of that last game of yours, I well and truly died after having given up my... let's call it quantum superposition. Should have been the end of it. Except it wasn't. And before you ask, I don't know how. As I said, quantum bullshit."

His thoughts churned and stilled all at once. He was sure he was processing everything on a subconscious level, as he usually did, but at the conscious level there was nothing going on. He stood there, silent, waiting for his mind to start working again. Waiting, and waiting, and waiting. It could have been a few seconds, or it could have been a few millennia, but finally he turned away from her and looked back up to the endless sea above him. For some reason he couldn't fathom and didn't want to dwell on, he wasn't panicking. In fact his mind was rather clear now despite the fact that he knew he shouldn't be able to function in this... impossible situation.

"Why am I here?" he asked.

"Do you see that lighthouse?" She asked, pointing off to the right, "Not the closest one, but just to the left of it. The one with the faint light?"

He followed her direction and his eyes fell on the lighthouse. In the dark it was hard to see much clearly but he could see it well enough to know that it looked just like all the other ones nearby. "Yes," he said quietly.

Elizabeth gave a nod and then shifted her arm to point to another lighthouse, "And that one? The closest one too it by distance, but four to the left by number?"

Again he looked and saw the lighthouse she indicated, giving another ,"Yes."

"Look at the water around them," Elizabeth ordered with a tone that hinted at trepidation.

He looked at the bases of the lighthouses, glancing from one to the other before noticing what he suspected she wanted him to. There were ripples flowing outward from both lighthouses, as though they were moving through the water. He frowned at the sight before saying. "It looks like they're moving toward each other."

Elizabeth was silent for a moment, just long enough to make him wonder what she was thinking before she replied, "They are. When they meet, there will be no crash. No jarring impact. They will merge until they become one, and then that one will start moving again to find another to merge with."

He turned to look at her with a frown. She, in turn looked at him, a distinct sadness in her eyes. "It's a Collapse," she explained, "Two universes becoming one. And... it's happening all over. Eventually, they will all become one."

"When?" he asked.

"Not for a long time, but eventually," she said.

He swallowed the sudden lump in his throat before speaking again, "And what happens then? Why are they merging? What does it do?"

Elizabeth took a deep breath as she turned back to look out at the sea, "Usually when two merge, very little happens. Universes are vast and empty after all, but eventually, it will start causing problems. Cataclysms on a galactic scale. It will destroy life. Destroy everything. I'm not sure what will happen when all become one. Maybe things will settle down, but I doubt it. After living the life I've lived, I have a certain 'sense' about these things. I think when all finally become one... that one will end as well. When that last lighthouse disappears, and this beautiful sea of existence becomes dark, the sea itself will vanish. What's the point of the sea, if there is nothing to light it? To inhabit it?"

He felt an overwhelming sense of dread as she spoke. Feeling the lump return to his throat he let out a quiet choking sound as he tried to think of something to say. Before he could though, she turned to him with a sad, almost apologetic smile. "As for why," she said, "It's your fault, Atrius Telos."

* * *

A/N: So, after a very long absence I'm looking at getting back into writing. Life has finally settled down for me, I got my degree and a good job, as well as a mountain of ideas that I feel a desire to get down on paper. That said, I want to be sure that I'm writing not only something I want to write, but also something you want to read. So, what is this story about? Well if you read these first two and a half pages, you'll have a rough idea. This is a story about the collapse of the multiverse, and while I intend for this first part (assuming all goes well there will be sequels/off shoots) to be based in the Mass Effect Universe, I would very much like to see the Collapse play out in the story, so I do intend to bring in other characters from other media into the story.

That said: Who do you, the readers, want to see in the story?

I'm open to suggestions and willing to look into adding just about any character from any fandom or media type so long as I think they'll fit and I can get a good feel for the character. I already know about some characters I'll be adding, but I would welcome more, because this is not going to be a rehash of the Mass Effect story-line with additional characters, my intent is to change things and the more variety, they greater the changes I can plausibly create.

Finally, thanks for reading.


	2. Chapter 2

"My fault?" Atrius asked.

"Yes," came the simple reply, "Your fault. Which means you have to fix it."

Atrius blinked at her, trying to process what she had just said. The multiverse was collapsing on itself and it was **his** fault? That was bullshit. It had to be. What could he have possibly done to cause this?

"Don't worry," Elizabeth said, "You'll understand, in time. For now though, it's time to send you along." As she spoke she turned and finally gestured back to the door to the lighthouse.

Atrius watched her, and as she finished her last sentence he felt his mental barriers against emotional reactions give way, "LIKE HELL! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? NONE OF THIS MAKES ANY SENSE! WHY AM I EVEN HERE? THIS PLACE ISN'T EVEN REAL, IT'S PART OF A FUCKING VIDEO GAME! 'MULTIVERSE' MY ASS! AND WHY THE HELL AM I NOT PANICKING?! I SHOULDN'T BE ABLE TO THINK CLEARLY IN A SITUATION LIKE THIS!"

Elizabeth listened to him vent, adopting an unamused expression as she shifted her weight and crossed her arms in front of her. When he finally stopped shouting she deadpanned, "Yeah, sounds like you're not panicking."

Atrius blinked at her, deflating in an instant and trying to figure out something to say. His mouth moved, opening and closing repeatedly, but no sound came out. He couldn't form words as he stood there in front of her. The calm and clarity that had been present until that point was missing, and in its place a deep well of terror was bubbling up. None of this made any sense. **None of it.** He couldn't accept it, even if he wanted to. It was impossible, and wrong, and so far from the realm of possibility that he couldn't even begin to grasp at what it meant. He started shaking, his vision swimming, head ringing, and the feeling of nausea hitting him so hard he lurched forward and fell to his hands and knees. He gasped, and choked, and retched.

And then it was gone. The clarity was back, and he stared in mute shock at the small splatter of blood on the ground in front of his face. Still feeling slightly shaky he pushed himself up, wiping at his nose as he stared wide eyed at Elizabeth. Her face had gone from unamused to sympathetic, her brows furrowed in concern.

"Wha- what just-..." Atrius tried to ask what had just happened and why it had stopped.

She seemed to understand and let out a sigh, looking down to the ground and the splatter of blood as she replied, "Think of it as a gift. A means of avoiding panic and viewing your situation in the same way you once viewed mine."

Atrius stared at her, wide eyed as he contemplated the meaning of her statement. "Like a video game," he whispered, "An outside perspective."

She looked up at him with a small, reluctant smile, "Yes. It will help you... cope."

He watched her for several moments as his thoughts churned before he finally asked what he felt was the most important question at the time, "How? How am I the cause of this... Collapse?"

"Simple, really," she said, "Constants and variables."

He understood immediately. It wasn't him that had done this, but another version of him. But if that were the case...

"Why me?" he asked, "I mean, why me, me? Why not some other me?"

Elizabeth shifted her weight again and walked to stand next to him, putting him between herself and the open door to the lighthouse. "Right now," she explained, "You are the only you. You are every you. Not to worry though, once you're through, you'll split back up into every other you. It's taking a lot of my power to keep you from being overwhelmed by all the conflicting memories though, so I can't really explain more at this point, which sucks because there's a lot I'd like to explain about where you're going and why you need to be there. All I can really say is this; Change things. As much as you can."

With those last words she stepped forward and shoved him through the door, watching as he flailed back at the sudden push. The door slammed shut before he even hit the ground, and once it did she was alone again. With a sigh she turned and looked back out at the sea, worry etched on her face. She really hoped this was the right thing to do.

"He'll be fine," a voice said from her left.

She smiled at the familiar voice, the smile turning to a grin as the strum of a guitar started up. She picked up the orange sitting on the low wall as she started to sing, "Will the circle, be unbroken..."

* * *

Atrius watched Elizabeth disappear behind the door as it slammed shut, immediately before he hit the ground hard, a grunt being forced from his lungs. He squinted his eyes shut and gasped as his mind reeled.

 _I'm in deep,_ he thought. _Not quite sure what I'm in. But I'm in deep._

He opened his eyes only to immediately wish he hadn't. Above him was a gray, metallic ceiling. Not quite nearly as far above him though, were four beings with rather obvious weapons pointed at him. Beings he recognized, and weapons he recognized. He tilted his head slightly to look towards his feet, seeing he was just inside a shut doorway. He looked back at the four beings, with four double-pupil eyes and wedge shaped heads.

 _Protheans...shit._

They were shouting something at him. What exactly, he couldn't tell, but he suspected it was something along the lines of demanding how he got there. Deciding it would be best not to move so as to not startle the four aliens who had their fingers on the triggers of their rifles, he instead spoke, "I can't understand you."

The aliens paused, looked at each other, and then one of them roughly grabbed his arm, making his head feel like it was going to pop as he was assaulted with a myriad of disjointed images that left him gasping for air. When it finally ended he heard them begin talking frantically again, and while he couldn't understand the words themselves, he suddenly found he seemed to be able to follow the flow of the conversation. At least until one of them decided to bash his head with their rifle and knock him out.

* * *

The Protheans were gathered in the med bay as the Avatar of Wisdom sat next to the medical table, hands gripping the arm of the primitive. They didn't know what to think. Medical scans had shown a human much further along evolution-wise than its kind back on their home world, and the language it had spoken seemed nuanced, even with so few words spoken. What they didn't know was how it had gotten onto their ship.

Finally, slowly, the Avatar of Wisdom drew his hands away from the primitive, setting them in his lap as he slowly opened his eyes to stare down at it. _If only you had arrived a century ago, human,_ Wisdom thought, _before **they** did. If we can not save this cycle, we will ensure the next can be saved. If this Elizabeth sent you to us now, then it is likely to prepare you for later. You **will** be ready._

With a sense of determination, Wisdom stood and left the room, touching the shoulder of two of his followers as he left, conveying to them to stay and watch over the human. He would ensure the necessary resources were allocated. If they were to die, then no matter who sent the human here, or for what purpose, he would be the instrument of their vengeance.

* * *

 **Fifty thousand years later...**

The facility was abuzz with activity as the numerous researchers ran around and foreign dignitaries looked on in anticipation. The reason for all the activity sat in the middle of a large lab area. A tank, sealed for the last fifty thousand years and filled with an opaque gel that the researchers had concluded was some type of artificial amniotic fluid. The Prothean experts were at a loss as to why this apparent stasis tank was so different from all the previously discovered stasis pods. Meanwhile, while the biochemists had concluded that the fluid inside was meant to sustain whoever was within, it also had properties that they didn't fully understand.

Watching the goings-on from across the room, the Asari Councilor, Tevos, stood next to a human ambassador, waiting. This was a big find for humanity, since after having joined the galactic community they had made very little progress with the research in the Mars Archive. Then someone had solved a riddle and opened this room deep within the facility. According to several experts of Prothean architecture, the room appeared to have been added to the facility long after its original construction, and well underground at that. Everyone present hoped to find out exactly why soon.

The Chief researcher at the Mars Archive, a Romeo Santiago, approached the Councilor and ambassador. "Councilor Tevos, Ambassador Harris, we're ready to open it. Our translators assure me the code all checks out, and our data analysts agree. Are you ready?"

"Always ready to meet a long dead species, Santiago," Harris quipped.

Tevos gave a quick glance to Harris before speaking, "Let us hope so. This day will no doubt go down in history. It is an honor to be a part of it, and I look forward to speaking with this Prothean. There is much I'm sure we can learn from it."

With a grin, Harris nodded, "Go ahead and crack this thing open."

As Santiago turned to start giving the order for the researchers to step away from the tank, the two diplomats slowly approached, speaking quietly to each other.

"Are we sure that Proteheans are friendly?" Harris asked, tugging at his collar.

Tevos gave a stiff nod, "All our prevailing theories point to that, yes. They were a very advanced and enlightened people."

"Hope you're right," Harris said, "After all, there are some who would call current galactic civilization 'advanced and enlightened,' and it ain't exactly all sunshine and rainbows."

Before Tevos could respond, Santiago spoke up, "Alright everyone! This is it! Who's ready to meet a Prothean?"

A cheer went up from the collected audience as Santiago grinned and input the code he'd been given before he quickly stepped around the console to join the two diplomats as they stood in front of the tank with a few orderlies at the ready next to them. All eyes were glued to the tank as it slowly started to drain, seeming to take an agonizingly long time. The smiles and eagerness on everyone's face fell though, when the head of the tank's inhabitant finally appeared.

"Is that a... human?" Harris asked, incredulous.

A few murmurs were suddenly heard and Harris flinched at hearing a few of the less charitable ones mentioning a hoax. By then though, the tank had drained and the human inside slumped against the door before it suddenly opened, making him tumble out onto the floor with a wet thwack. With a retch the human coughed up more of the fluid from the tank and began taking deep gasping breaths. The orderlies, showcasing their professionalism over awe, were quickly at the humans side, a large towel draped over him to cover his naked form and begin scans with their Omni-tools.

"Well?" Santiago asked, eager for someone to say something.

One of the orderlies spoke up, "Pulse it slightly elevated. Breathing normal. Huh, the DNA is..."

"Is what?" Tevos asked, curious about the pause.

"Well, it looks human," the orderly explained, "At least, for the most part. I won't be able to tell you why exactly it seems off to me until we get a proper scan done."

Tevos took in the information and then walked forward, kneeling down in front of the human as he stared at the floor taking deep breaths. Slowly, the human tilted his head up as everyone looked on in silence, over thirty eyes watching his every move. Tevos blinked as the startlingly vivid blues eyes met her own. With a kind smile that had helped her throughout her career, she slowly held her hand out to the human.

Atrius furrowed his brow as his thoughts raced, finally catching up to him after the abrupt awakening. He had convinced himself he was ready for this. He was so wrong. He hadn't known what to expect when he next woke up, but meeting this Asari right away hadn't been even entertained as a possibility. He stared at the hand, the blue, scaled skin a glaring difference to what he was used to. Finally, deciding that he didn't have much choice in this whole matter he reached up and grasped her hand. She moved to help him stand but found it nearly impossible before he deigned to try and stand himself. When he finally did, he towered over her and the rest of the people present save for a few of the Turians.

This, he decided, was going to be a pain in the ass. He figured his best bet to avoid... uncomfortable questions, was to pretend he couldn't talk until he had a chance to listen to people speaking and read as many words as he could. It would make it seem like he simply picked up a language quickly as opposed to already knowing one that definitely wasn't fifty thousand years old.

With a deep breath and all eyes on him, he readied himself for what was to come.

 _ _This is where it__ _ _ **really**__ _ _starts.__

* * *

 **A/N: Alright, Atrius is now in the Mass Effect universe. Next chapter we'll see when exactly in the timeline he has wound up, as well as a hint at who the first crossover character is, though it will be vague.**

 **Thanks to everyone who has shot me some ideas on who else to include. There's one that I'm for sure going to implement later, and a few more that I will try to find a way to fit in if it's at all possible. I even got one idea suggested to me that, as much as I like the character, I feel doesn't quite fit, but has actually inspired me to start thinking about another, similar story. For now, though, it's only an idea, and I'll be focusing on this one.**

 **If you have any more ideas for characters you'd like to see, let me know.**

 **Thanks for reading!**


End file.
